Help me plan our spring break visits

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I’d have my husband rent a car one way to Burlington via Ithaca, maybe Hamilton, and Skidmore. He flies down to DC in morning from Burlington. After you know he’s back, you fly up to Burlington in afternoon. DD spends day alone in Burlington but other child is confirmed cared for. Then you and DD do train route back. Or DH drives your car and you drive it back, depending on whether you like driving.

That's a good idea!

I also just thought we could all go to my mothers in Boston, leave other DC there and both take DD to Dartmouth, Conn, Wesleyan and UVM. Lotta driving and a little backwards but it might work.

That’s a good idea. IMHO Conn College (and maybe Dartmouth) doesn’t fit in with the other schools on her list. But I guess it’s good to explore different options.

Do you think that Ithaca College fits in ?

Regardless, OP seems to be open-minded to options an taking advantage of proximity.

I am VERY open minded - I’d like her to look at everything from Clark/UMass to UVM to Brown. She’s similarly open minded (Syracuse/Ithaca to Dartmouth) but has a random strong opinion on some schools; like Brandies is a hard no. Rochester hard no. Amherst hard no. Won’t consider women’s colleges. And some of her hard no’s are silly like she heard from someone that the food is terrible. But once my kid makes a decision like that she’s never in her entire life changed her mind so I’m taking her word for it.

She might want to rethink Brown then. Food and housing get the most complaints on the parent page!

Oh good I'll tell her, lol! She can apply to Brown if she wants (and believe me, I'd be thrilled for her if she gets in). BUT, she wants to use her ED on Brown and I think there's a 0-2% chance she will get in. And, if she wins the lottery and gets in, it will mean big loans. Which we are willing and able to do, but I'd much rather see her at a great school where she gets a lot of merit aid.

In that case, it's good she doesn't want to attend Rochester. They are stingy with merit aid. The most they give is $13K and tuition is $83K and a parent on another forum said Rochester took away a merit awards in the second year, so their child had to transfer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d have my husband rent a car one way to Burlington via Ithaca, maybe Hamilton, and Skidmore. He flies down to DC in morning from Burlington. After you know he’s back, you fly up to Burlington in afternoon. DD spends day alone in Burlington but other child is confirmed cared for. Then you and DD do train route back. Or DH drives your car and you drive it back, depending on whether you like driving.

That's a good idea!

I also just thought we could all go to my mothers in Boston, leave other DC there and both take DD to Dartmouth, Conn, Wesleyan and UVM. Lotta driving and a little backwards but it might work.

That’s a good idea. IMHO Conn College (and maybe Dartmouth) doesn’t fit in with the other schools on her list. But I guess it’s good to explore different options.

Do you think that Ithaca College fits in ?

Regardless, OP seems to be open-minded to options an taking advantage of proximity.

I am VERY open minded - I’d like her to look at everything from Clark/UMass to UVM to Brown. She’s similarly open minded (Syracuse/Ithaca to Dartmouth) but has a random strong opinion on some schools; like Brandies is a hard no. Rochester hard no. Amherst hard no. Won’t consider women’s colleges. And some of her hard no’s are silly like she heard from someone that the food is terrible. But once my kid makes a decision like that she’s never in her entire life changed her mind so I’m taking her word for it.

She might want to rethink Brown then. Food and housing get the most complaints on the parent page!

Definitely visit Conn College because of its merit aid. The beaches around there are close — 15 minutes — and really nice, if she will likes the ocean. You should look at Clark also, especially if into environmental studies and geography, which is top notch. I think UMass is a better school academically for many subjects than Syracuse (and for most things better than UVM); it also has fantastic food, and is in a great college town. If you fit UMass in, get her to at least see Mount Holyoke — the nicest of the Five College campuses, and a potential fit (unlike Smith) for students otherwise disinclined to consider women’s schools.

Ithaca is not doing well and has cut programs. I would stick with Ithaca and Syracuse only if she has an interest in communications and journalism.

If you visit both, Clark is only an hour from UMass — don’t take the highway; it’s not any faster. You will see nice New England towns on the way…

[Anonymous]

I’d see UVM and Clark. And run the NPC for all schools she is interested in.

[Anonymous]

What a delightful post, everyone so helpful. Pleasure to read. OP - please let us know how these visits go!

[Anonymous]

Have fun OP! I was gearing up for an epic road trip last year with my DS including some of these same schools. He wound up getting in ED, so we skipped it, but honestly I thought it would be a lot of fun to drive around New England/New York comparing campuses etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What a delightful post, everyone so helpful. Pleasure to read. OP - please let us know how these visits go!

This is OP I agree! No DCUM nastiness or snark at all!

Now, of course, I'm completely obsession about which combo to do. I definitely told her (and she didn't object), we are going to Mt. Holyoke. I don't think she can withstand more than 3, and we want to do UVM. So I'm not sure whether we'll do UMass, Conn College, Dartmouth or Clark! My mother lives in MA so we could always go back there for a day and drive 45 minutes to Clark. She really wants to see Dartmouth but I just think it's a waste of time and energy, but it is HER process, after all.

I will update once we are home!

[Anonymous]

OP: is there anyway you could do a trip over the three day weekends coming up? we found surgical two-three school trips the most palatable. we did wesleyan and then middlebury with just one overnight in middlebury (morning tour and drive home). could extend to two nights and go another place

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP: is there anyway you could do a trip over the three day weekends coming up? we found surgical two-three school trips the most palatable. we did wesleyan and then middlebury with just one overnight in middlebury (morning tour and drive home). could extend to two nights and go another place

Yes we might do that with those particular schools!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What a delightful post, everyone so helpful. Pleasure to read. OP - please let us know how these visits go!

This is OP I agree! No DCUM nastiness or snark at all!

Now, of course, I'm completely obsession about which combo to do. I definitely told her (and she didn't object), we are going to Mt. Holyoke. I don't think she can withstand more than 3, and we want to do UVM. So I'm not sure whether we'll do UMass, Conn College, Dartmouth or Clark! My mother lives in MA so we could always go back there for a day and drive 45 minutes to Clark. She really wants to see Dartmouth but I just think it's a waste of time and energy, but it is HER process, after all.

I will update once we are home!

But if you see Mount Holyoke, you really should see at least some of the Five College area, i.e., the nearby towns of Amherst and/or Northampton. Because if you don’t, you are not really seeing Mount Holyoke: a big draw of Mount Holyoke is the synergy created by the 5 Colleges (anchored by UMass). She will probably take a course at one in her later college years and, even if she doesn’t, when her and her friends go out off campus to do something “fun” (other than the little plaza across from the Mount Holyoke campus), it will be to Amherst and Northampton.

[Anonymous]

i wouldn't waste time on schools she definitely isn't getting into

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i wouldn't waste time on schools she definitely isn't getting into

That’s a really tough one. She’s got great stats, so I don’t think we can say “definitely,” but I think the chances are slim to none from what I’m hearing and reading about Ivy’s these days (no hook, nothing too out of the ordinary other than being a female bass player in a jazz band). I don’t want to be overly pessimistic though and say “don’t even bother,” so I’m saying “let’s focus visits on more likely schools and visit others after admission if you get in.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i wouldn't waste time on schools she definitely isn't getting into

That’s a really tough one. She’s got great stats, so I don’t think we can say “definitely,” but I think the chances are slim to none from what I’m hearing and reading about Ivy’s these days (no hook, nothing too out of the ordinary other than being a female bass player in a jazz band). I don’t want to be overly pessimistic though and say “don’t even bother,” so I’m saying “let’s focus visits on more likely schools and visit others after admission if you get in.”

This is all different if you are doing ED or not. If you/she are thinking about it. it's more important to visit schools now so she is sure about the ED choice. If not, can visit schools after RD round....

[Anonymous]

Just for orientation, Dartmouth/Hanover is right by I-89 which runs from Burlington VT to Boston, and it's about halfway between the two cities. If UVM is a serious interest and Dartmouth is more "just to see it," i'd suggest you spend your last night on the road in (fun) Burlington, enjoy the morning there before heading south 90 minutes to Hanover, spend as much of the afternoon at Dartmouth as you want, and then drive on to return to Boston, which is just an easy two hour drive from Dartmouth. Unless you're deeply interested in Dartmouth, or have some aversion to driving at sundown, there's really no reason to overnight in tiny sleepy Hanover.

[Anonymous]

New England is actually pretty small. You easily could do a Boston - Worcester (Clark) - Amherst (UMass, Holyoke) - New London CT (Conn College) - Boston circuit and none of those four legs would be more than a two hour drive (and the first two would be barely an hour).

[Anonymous]

And plan to grab a bite at Rein’s Deli off of Route 84 in Connecticut. Great comfort food, and a highlight of any road trip through central Connecticut.